


Reconnaissance

by o0Anapher0o



Series: Deep Dish 9 and more [2]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe, Deep Dish Nine, Dominion's Pizza, Gen, Julian's spy fantasies, dubious business practices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24891901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o0Anapher0o/pseuds/o0Anapher0o
Summary: There is a new pizza place in town and Ben sends Julian and Garak to size up the competition.
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Series: Deep Dish 9 and more [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801177
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30





	Reconnaissance

They're the only customers in front of the weird little window in a shiny little room. Thank the Prophets for small mercies Julian thinks. At least he only has to pretend to the strange small man behind the counter. He's wearing a sleek purple uniform, a practiced customer service smile that is even more fake than Garak's and a name tag that informs Julian that his name is Weyoun 5. It isn't entirely clear if the five is part of his name of maybe just a typo on the tag.  
Garak sniffles critically. He's still unhappy about coming here. Julian is glad he did it anyway, even knowing he asked a big favour.  
Mr Sisko wants to know what to expect with this new competition, so he send Julian on a reconnaissance mission. Undercover of course, after all it wouldn't do for Dominion's to know he sent one of his employees to spy on them. And of course it was only natural that Julian would ask Garak to come on this mission with him. Who else would he bring on a covert operation?  
Garak was naturally reluctant.  
„Really, my dear, now you want to go and get pizza even away from work?“ he had asked with that one raised eyebrow that expresses his doubts as eloquently as if he'd grimaced in disgust, at least for someone who knows him as well as Julian does by now.  
“You come to Deep Dish Nine plenty yourself.” he had tried to defend himself.  
He's well aware what Garak thinks of his eating habits. The med student in him admits he might not be entirely wrong, even though the med student points out that he can't really afford to turn down free food for something as elusive as nutritional value and that even pizza is more nourishing than no food at all.  
“Not for the pizza, my dear.” Garak had said with a telling tilt of his head.  
He's right of course, Julian can't remember Garak ever ordering pizza, despite the fact that he still comes to his work place once a week. But he usually has the salad, or the soup in winter, sometimes the daily special, but only if Sisko got creative in the kitchen again and made some of his father's Cajun recipes. And of course they both know he comes predominantly to see Julian.  
“Besides this is practically work.” Julian had argued. Which is true; Mr Sisko has even given him money from the till to pay for the enemy’s pizza.  
Somehow he managed to talk Garak into coming along. Julian has the sneaking suspicion he worked way too hard for it, but he's also fairly sure he's going to pay for it somewhere down the line. As soon as Garak is done complaining probably. He suppresses a grin at the thought, trying not to give anything away to the man in front of him as he places their orders.  
“One medium pepperoni pizza and one with cheese to go.” he says trying to sound as normal as possible, like he's just ordering food for a movie night with his boyfriend. Not like he's going to directly carry his loot back to Sisko for testing.  
“And I'll have a coke, as well.” he adds on a whim. Normally he prefers coffee or a strong tea for his caffeine kick, but he has a paper to finish that will require a couple of all nighters, so he can probably do with the sugar rush.  
Weyoun gives him a strange look. Strange even for someone who looks like his smile is stapled to his face. For a moment Julian is sure he's been made. He can't help flick a quick look to Garak who is examining the interior design of the room sceptically.  
“What coke?” the man in front of Julian asks hesitantly.  
What coke? Julian looks back at him confused. What kind of a question is that? He stares furtively at the fridge clearly visible behind Weyoun. It contains nothing but normal classic coke. Not even the diet variety is on display. Even more confused he looks back to Weyoun who still watches him with a slightly cautious.  
“Um, a bottle?” Julian tries with a pointed look at the fridge.  
Weyoune turns around and stares at the fridge like he sees it for the first time. Then he turns back and plasters his smile back on.  
“Of course.” he says, “That'll be a few minutes.” With that he takes a bottle of coke from the fridge and hands it to Julian. Julian pays the price he names, still a little weirded out, but the other man is acting as if nothing ever happened so he just takes a seat on one of the plastic chairs next to Garak and waits for his food. Maybe Weyoun just had tuned out for a moment, after all it's not like that's never happened to him at work, especially when he first started dating Garak.

They've waited for about five minutes, quiet except for a short discussion about the fact that Julian could have gotten his drink for half the price at literally any supermarket, potentially even at Quark's, when another customer comes in. It's a bulky guy, the long black pony tale indicates he is Jem'Hadar. Julian watches raptly, while simultaneously trying not to be too obvious about it. You don't see many Jem'Hadar in Alpha city, although rumours are there are more and more coming in. They have a reputation for being rowdy and short tempered though, so it's probably not a good idea to provoke them if he can help it.  
The man steps to the counter to place his order. He gets close to the window, almost sticking his head in. Although they're only a meter and a half away Julian can't understand a word they're saying. But he clearly sees that Wayoun hands him a small packet, no bigger than a large coin, wrapped in paper. The man pushes a bill across the counter before he lets the packet slip into his pocket. Julian nearly gasps.  
“Did you see...” he says quietly to Garak, who stops him with a hand on his thigh.  
“Seems they have more than one kind of coke after all.” the Cardassian murmurs low enough so Julian can barely hear him.  
The Jem'Hadar nods to Weyoun and shots a suspicious look at the two waiting for their food before he marches out. Julian is still flabbergasted, but tries his hardest not to stare.

Jadzia is nearly doubling over with laughter when Julian recounts the encounter when they deliver the Pizza to Deep Dish Nine.  
“Oh God, I can just about imagine your face, Julian.” she hollers, “It must have been priceless, right Garak?”  
Thankfully Garak merely smiles indulgently without commenting.  
“You should probably tell Odo about this.” Kira suggests critically.  
Sisko nods in agreement. “We don't want the neighbourhood flooded with drugs. Good thing you brought Garak with you, at least that way no one can accuse us of smearing the competition. Not that it's a worthy competition.” he adds eying the spongy pizza with thinly veiled disgust.  
“I couldn't agree more.” Garak says, picking critically at his own slice, “Unfortunately quality isn't always what people value most in their food.” he adds with a look at Julian who is wolfing down soggy pizza like he hasn’t eaten in days.


End file.
